SATURDAY 04 MAY 2024

SAT 00:00 Midnight News (m001yr04)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 00:30 Alien Earths by Lisa Kaltenegger (m001yqyp)
Book of the Week: Episode 5 - Unravelling the night sky's mysteries

The award-winning astronomer on how rock stars, a rocket launch and scientific breakthroughs lead to the unravelling of some of the night sky's mysteries. Pippa Nixon reads.

Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger's eye-opening guide to the cosmos uses Earth's diverse biosphere as a template to search for life on other planets beyond our galaxy. Working with a team of tenacious scientists from a variety of disciplines she has come up with an ingenious toolkit to identify possible life forms on planets far from Earth. Her enthusiasm and her expertise in the newest technological advances reveal the possibilities for whole new worlds. Perhaps, she muses aliens might be out there gazing back at us.

Lisa Kaltenegger is the Founding Director of the Carl Sagan Institute to Search for Life in the Cosmos at Cornell University. She is a pioneer and world-leading expert in modelling potential habitable worlds . She is a Science Team Member of NASA's TESS mission and the NIRISS instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. The recipient of numerous international prizes and awards, including a European Commission Role Model for Women of Science and Research, she was named one of America's Young Innovators by Smithsonian Magazine. Asteroid Kaltenegger7734 is named after her.

Abridged by Katrin Williams
Produced by Elizabeth Allard


SAT 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yr06)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yr08)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SAT 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yr0b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 05:30 News Briefing (m001yr0d)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yr0g)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Prof Alison Jack of the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh


SAT 05:45 Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley (m001yqp5)
Nordic Walking

We all know that walking is hugely beneficial for our health and wellbeing, but we can get even fitter, and use nearly twice as many muscles, by introducing some poles and a simple technique. Join Michael Mosley as he delves into the science of Nordic walking to find out how it can enhance our walks by burning more calories and helping to ease back pain. He speaks to Dr Jennifer Reed from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute about her research, which has demonstrated why Nordic walking is one of the best forms of exercise for improving your heart health. Our volunteer Jessica picks up some poles and transforms her regular walks into a full-body workout.

Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.


SAT 06:00 News and Papers (m001yz4f)
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.


SAT 06:07 Open Country (m001yqpy)
Darwin's Childhood Garden

Jude Piesse moved to Shrewsbury in Shropshire when her job changed, but it was only when she went for a walk alongside the river near her new house that she discovered she was living beside what had once been the garden where Charles Darwin spent his childhood. Much of the original 7 acres of the garden has been built on, but the original house, The Mount, still exists. It has been used as offices for many decades and has only recently been bought and is being renovated with a view to opening it up to the public with a museum and café.

Whilst some local people know about the existence of the house and garden, most people associate Charles Darwin with Down House in Kent where he brought up his own family. Inspired by her discovery, Jude researched the story of the house and garden, learning about the women and the gardeners who were also a part of Darwin's upbrigning.

What becomes clear in this revealing journey is the enormous influence the garden had on a young boy in inspiring his curiosity and fascination with the natural world, which ultimately led to the publication of The Origin of Species.

Featuring Bibbs Cameron, researcher at Shrewsbury Civic Society; John Hughes, Darwin House Museum Project Manager and Dr Cath Price, Engagement Officer at Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

Producers: Eliza Lomas and Sarah Blunt. For BBC Audio in Bristol.


SAT 06:30 Farming Today (m001yz4h)
04/05/24 - Farming Today This Week: Border checks, cider orchards and illegal waste dumping

New physical checks have been brought in on some imports of food and plants from the EU. Products deemed high or medium risk now have to be inspected - including live animals, meat and some plant products. We report from a border control post to find out how it works.

An investigation is under way following the large scale illegal dumping of waste at a site in Kent. Local residents describe a steady stream of lorries carrying waste being brought to the site.

And the largest cider manufacturer in the UK - Heineken - has ripped up thousands of apple trees in a 140 acre orchard in Monmouthshire. The orchard was planted by Bulmers - which is now owned by Heineken - more than twenty years ago. Some local people have raised concerns about the effect on ecosystems in the area, but the company says it’s selling the land due to a fall in the cider market.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SAT 06:57 Weather (m001yz4k)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 07:00 Today (m001yz4m)
Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


SAT 09:00 Saturday Live (m001yz4p)
Val McDermid, Lauren Price, Nicola Nuttall, Jamie Laing

The Titan of Tartan Noir, crime writer Val McDermid, who grew up playing in the ruins of Macduff's castle, shines a new light on Lady Macbeth in her new book, and tells us show she became addicted to video games.

Nicola Nuttall has written a beautiful memoir about helping her daughter Laura make the most of her final days living with brain cancer…Laura had an extraordinary bucket list to complete in the last 12 months of her life; from going on Safari and flying a helicopter to meeting Michelle Obama and Malala Yousafzai.

In the run up to her first world title fight, Olympic gold-medal-winning boxer Lauren Price reveals the powerful story behind her nickname ‘the lucky one’.

All that, plus we have the Inheritance Tracks of former Made in Chelsea star turned entrepreneur, presenter, podcaster and so much more - Jamie Laing.

Presenters: Nikki Bedi and Huw Stephens
Producer: Ben Mitchell


SAT 10:00 Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny (m001yz4r)
Steph McGovern: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Can Shaun be persuaded to become the Boy from Ipanema? Or to shake his stuff at Carnival. Steph thinks he's made for it. Resident geographer, historian and comedian Iszi Lawrence is there with some fascinating facts.

Your Place Or Mine is the travel series that isn’t going anywhere. Join Shaun as his guests try to convince him that it’s worth getting up off the sofa and seeing the world, giving us a personal guide to their favourite place on the planet.

Producers: Beth O'Dea and Caitlin Hobbs

Your Place or Mine is a BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.


SAT 10:30 Soul Music (m001yysn)
Tiny Dancer

Elton John's slow burner is now one of his most beloved tracks. Released in 1971 during a prolific period for Elton and Bernie Taupin, many people see themselves in the lyrics.

Eliza Hewitt grew up in a strict household in Pennsylvania. During the tumultuous early 70s, her brother introduced her to the music of Elton John, and she's still a tiny dancer in her late 60s.

Lee Hall wrote the screenplay for Rocketman, the Elton John biopic. He sees the song as a conversation between Elton and Bernie.

Podcaster Kirk Hamilton takes us through the song's slow build to a chorus which feels as though it's never going to come.

Judith Sibley's daughter Lily-Mae received a terrible diagnosis when she was just 4 years old. Along with her brother Paul and friend Steven, she channelled her efforts into recording a charity single for her ballet loving daughter, and Tiny Dancer was the obvious song.

When Ava Forte Vitali and Drew Wood met and exchanged playlists they realised how much they had in common. So much so, that Tiny Dancer had to play a part in their wedding.

Produced by Sally Heaven for BBC Audio in Bristol
Technical Producer: Ilse Lademann
Editor: Emma Harding.


SAT 11:00 The Week in Westminster (m001yz4t)
Steve Richards analyses the results of the local elections - and what it means for a general election - with a panel of journalists: George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times; Sonia Sodha, chief leader writer at The Observer and Iain Martin from The Times.


SAT 11:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001yybd)
US student protests and the youth vote

Kate Adie introduces stories from the US, Portugal, the South China Sea, Argentina and Antarctica.

University campuses across the US have been gripped by protests over the war in Gaza, with students demanding their schools divest from Israeli interests. Nomia Iqbal considers the ramifications of the protests for Joe Biden, who will need the youth vote on his side if he is to win reelection in November.

In the days after the Hamas attacks, some 200,000 Israelis were evacuated from Israel's border regions with Gaza and Lebanon, and moved into temporary accommodation. While some have since decided to return home, others have decided to seek safety further afield, as Mark Lowen discovered in Lisbon.

Confrontations between the Philippines and China are on the rise in the South China Sea, as the countries clash over a territorial dispute. Jonathan Head saw this maritime feud up close, while on board a Filipino coastguard ship as it came into contact with a Chinese patrol.

Argentina's President Javier Milei was elected last year on a manifesto of slashing public spending. Yet, with inflation at 300 per cent, prices are still spiralling, and another national strike is on the horizon. Mimi Swaby discovers it’s a crisis that continues to affect all corners of this vast country.

And we’re amid the icebergs and marine life of Antarctica, as Janie Hampton recounts her voyage to trace her family connections to the continent - revealing how the downfall of the Soviet Union led to the cut-price sale of a British research base.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison


SAT 12:00 News Summary (m001yz4w)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


SAT 12:04 Money Box (m001yybb)
Digital Exclusion and National Insurance credits

Digitally excluded. An elderly couple have their accounts frozen because their documents were out of date - despite having being customers for their bank for nearly two decades. We hear from Tom and Marian Doughty who say they were left with weeks of sleepless nights.

Can you boost your state pension by filling old gaps in your national insurance record? A new online calculator from the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC aims to answer that. The Treasury says the new service will bring “peace of mind” to people planning for their retirement and could help “thousands” of pensioners.

Royal Mail has suspended the £5 penalty it charged people for letters sent with a new barcoded stamp which its machines had identified as fake.

And what happens to your home when you break up with someone? Should you make a financial plan when the relationship is going well, in case it doesn't in the future?

Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner
Researcher: Sandra Hardial
Studio producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Neil Morrow

(This episode was first broadcast on the 4th of May, 2024).


SAT 12:30 Dead Ringers (m001yqzh)
Series 24

Episode 2

The winners and losers in England's elections and the SNP Scottish leadership race, and what will Harry Kane do with his golden shoe?

The series writers include: Nev Fountain & Tom Jamieson, Ed Amsden & Tom Coles, Laurence Howarth, Rob Darke, Edward Tew, Sophie Dixon, Sarah Campbell, Toussaint Douglass, Cody Dahler, Joe Topping, Alex Bertulis Fernandes, Angela Channell, Lizzy Mansfield, Christina Riggs, Peter Tellouche, Rachel Thorne, Toussaint Douglas and Sarah Dempster.

Exec: James Robinson
Sound Design: Rich Evans
Prod Co-Ordinator: Dan Marchini
Producer: Bill Dare


SAT 12:57 Weather (m001yz4y)
The latest weather forecast


SAT 13:00 News and Weather (m001yz50)
The latest national and international news and weather reports from BBC Radio 4


SAT 13:10 Any Questions? (m001yqzp)
Ian Blackford MP, Anthony Browne MP, Lucy Powell MP, Luke Tryl

Alex Forsyth presents political discussion from East Markham Village Hall in Nottinghamshire with the SNP MP and former Westminster party leader Ian Blackford, the Transport Minister Anthony Browne MP, the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell MP and the UK Director of More in Common Luke Tryl.
Producer: Camellia Sinclair
Lead broadcast engineer: Chris Hardman


SAT 14:00 Any Answers? (m001yz52)
Topical discussion posing questions to a panel of political and media personalities


SAT 14:45 The Archers (m001yqzk)
Miranda is revelling in Lilian’s discomfort at her being there in The Bull for the pub quiz. Brian is determined to win but Kate is not happy with the team name. Alice is late, and Jakob is on edge. With good reason it seems after Alice turns up and, clearly the worse for wear, starts making a nuisance of herself. The family is mortified and Jakob is all for sneaking her out quietly but they have to wait until a break in the quiz. Brian suggests they make a quick getaway but Lilian doesn’t understand why they want to leave until Alice, slurring, says the night is just getting started. When Jakob tries to take her outside, she starts making a scene. Back at the cottage, Brian says none of them saw this coming. He can’t believe they’re back in this situation. Alice goes to bed, saying Jakob is the only person who is kind to her. From this they work out Jakob knew she was drinking again. Brian erupts and throws Jakob out.

George is treating Will and Emma to dinner at Grey Gables. Emma thinks the hotel’s new uniforms are shocking but is evasive when Will asks what she thought of the tee shirts and fleeces he bought for the tree surgery business. She suggest, diplomatically, that his name for the business is ‘a bit of a mouthful’. Emma is horrified by the prices on the menu. And when the mains arrive, vegetables are not included and George can’t afford pudding. Despite this they appreciate George’s gesture.


SAT 15:00 Drama on 4 (m001yz54)
Chicken Soup with Barley

by Arnold Wesker

Sarah Kahn ..... Debbie Chazen
Harry Kahn ..... Elliot Levey
Ronnie Kahn ..... Joshua Ginsberg
Ada Kahn ..... Imogen Front
Cissie Kahn ..... Susannah Wise
Monty /Man ..... Joel Gillman
Hymie Kossof ..... Russell Bentley
Dave Simmonds ..... Dan Wolff
Prince Silver ..... Ashley Margolis
Bessie Blatt ..... Anna Spearpoint

Directed by Sally Avens

A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4

Wesker's semi-autobiographical state of the nation stage play from 1956: The Kahns are communists, and the play traces their relationship with the party from the high of Cable Street, when working men and women successfully forced Mosley's parading fascists into retreat, to the low of Soviet tanks rolling into Hungary. It is only Sarah Kahn, the matriarch of the family, who idealistically clings to the party she has given her life to. As the rest of her family desert her she clings to her mantra: 'you have to care or you die'.


SAT 16:30 Woman's Hour (m001yz56)
Weekend Woman's Hour: Co-parenting, Plastic pollution, ACL injuries, Perinatal suicide

What is it really like to be a co-parent? Hayley Allen’s son spends the weekdays with his dad and she takes care of him at the weekends. Carly Harris’ two children spend 80% of their time with her and are looked after by their dad every other weekend. Clare talked to Hayley and Carly about the difficulties and benefits of co-parenting.

As talks reach a conclusion in Ottawa this week on a legally binding global treaty on plastic pollution, we speak to film director and campaigner Eleanor Church. Her documentary, X Trillion, comes out this week, and takes the viewer on an all-female expedition to the North Pacific gyre, where much of the world's plastic waste ends up.

The risk of ACL injuries in female football players is up to six times higher than their male counterparts. Leeds Beckett University is leading a new study into why this risk rate is so high and the impact on athletes. Knee surgeon to the sports stars Andy Williams explains why this may be happening and footballer Emma Samways, of Hashtag United in Essex, tells us about her ACL injury from earlier on this year.

Perinatal suicide, while thankfully rare, is the leading cause of maternal death in the UK. A new study from King’s College London is the first of its kind to focus on the causes. The perinatal period runs from the start of pregnancy to a year after giving birth – and the suicide rates among these women has recently risen. Clare spoke to Dr Abigail Easter, the lead researcher, and Krystal Wilkinson, who shares her own experience.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Annette Wells
Editor; Erin Riley


SAT 17:00 PM (m001yz58)
Sadiq Khan wins London for Labour

Sadiq Khan wins the London mayoralty for Labour while the race in the West Midlands goes to the wire.


SAT 17:30 Sliced Bread (m001yqpk)
Toast - Safeway UK

Why did Safeway's UK supermarkets disappear?

Safeway was once one of our biggest supermarket chains, so why did it drop down the list of top performers before disappearing altogether?

The BBC Business journalist, Sean Farrington, looks into it and speaks to the former Safeway director, Teresa Wickham, a former Safeway supplier, Judy Garner, and the News Editor, Ronan Hegarty, from The Grocer magazine.

Alongside them all to analyse Safeway's fortunes is the self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White.

This episode was produced by Viant Siddique.

Toast examines the brands that reached dizzy heights only to end up…toast.

It is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk

Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in May. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.


SAT 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001yz5b)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SAT 17:57 Weather (m001yz5d)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SAT 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yz5g)
Sadiq Khan secures another term as London mayor - with success for Labour elsewhere


SAT 18:15 Loose Ends (m001yxlm)
The Zutons play for Stuart Maconie with Rhod Gilbert, Kathy Lette, Carla Henry, Luke Wright and Bryony Jarman Pinto

The comedian Rhod Gilbert gave up touring and TV appearances last year when he got cancer. Now he's back - a newly focussed man - with a show called 'Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit', all about the big bitter diagnosis he had to swallow; the best-selling novelist Kathy Lette's latest book is called The Revenge Club and is based on a real life career setback - we want to hear all; Poet and stand up comic Luke Wright on managing to combine humour and pathos on the page and on the stage and 25 years on from her breakout role in Queer as Folk, the actor Carla Henry tells Stuart about her latest role in the gritty and prescient drama Sweat. Plus music from The Zutons and Bryony Jarman Pinto.


SAT 19:00 Profile (m001yy9j)
Isaac Levido

Isaac Levido has established a formidable reputation as a election strategist, helping to craft wins both in the UK and Australia. Thought of as a protege of the quasi-legendary election guru Sir Lynton Crosby in his early years, he’s rapidly racked up achievements of his own, propelling both Scott Morrison and Boris Johnson back into office with his brand of data-driven analysis.

Stephen Smith opens the black box that is electoral strategising and sets out to understand the mind of the man who is set to shape the Conservatives’ impending general election campaign.

Guests:
Katy Balls, Political Editor of The Spectator
Alexander Downer, former leader of the Australian Liberal Party
Paul Stephenson, Vote Leave Campaign Director
Lord Andrew Feldman, former chair of the Conservative Party
David Bold, friend and Australian political advisor

Presenter: Stephen Smith
Producer: Nathan Gower
Assistant Producers: Julie Ball, Diane Richardson
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Programme Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill

Archive:
The Thick of It, BBC
Scott Morrison election night speech, ABC News
Boris Johnson election victory speech


SAT 19:15 This Cultural Life (m001yqp9)
Sebastião Salgado

Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado is best known for his captivating black and white photographs. He has documented scenes of hardship and desperation in times of war and famine; he has explored global labour and migration; and he has captured the wonders of the natural world. Salgado has worked in more than 120 countries over the last 50 years, and is now regarded as one of the all time greats of photography. His images are in the collections of museums and galleries around the world, he won the prestigious Premium Imperiale arts prize in 2021 and was the 2024 recipient of the Sony World Photography Award for outstanding achievement.

Raised on this a cattle farm in eastern Minas Gerais state, an early formative experience was leaving home for the city of Vitória in 1960. It was here, watching ships dock from all around the world, that he first felt the desire to travel. It's also where he met his wife Lélia who is his curator and editor. He began a promising career as an economist but switched to photography in the early 1970s, after he and Lélia bought their first camera on holiday. Joining the Magnum agency, the international cooperative of photographers, in 1979 allowed him to refine his craft with the help and advice of photography greats such as Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Salgado tells John Wilson about some of his most famous photo series, including those on the theme of manual labour which he called Workers; and Exodus, the stories of global migration. Covering the Rwandan genocide in 1994 as well as years of photographing refugees from wars, natural disasters and poverty finally took its toll on Salgado's health. He stopped photographing and returned to Brazil, where he and Lélia began reforesting his father's farm, now transformed into a National Park of lush vegetation called Instituto Terra. The success of this venture led to Salgado returning to photography, this time seeking out beauty and landscapes in series called Genesis, his love letter to the planet.

Producer: Edwina Pitman


SAT 20:00 Archive on 4 (m001yz5j)
DNA, Crime and Controversy

It's 40 years since DNA fingerprinting was discovered by Sir Alec Jeffreys at his lab in Leicester. Within a couple of years it had revolutionised the way crimes were investigated around the world.

Barrister and former TV presenter and Government minister Anna Soubry looks back at how the discovery changed crime investigations, with DNA evidence leading to many guilty pleas and verdicts which would otherwise have been much more difficult to prove.

Anna hears from people involved in various cases over the years, as well as experts about how DNA fingerprinting changed both crime investigations and trials. She looks at how the technique was also used to prove various miscarriages of justice.

But did society's fascination with DNA fingerprinting lead to an over mythologising of its use as a magic bullet to solving crimes? And what about its early failings? Sample sizes and contamination have created doubts in some investigations. Has the role of DNA in the mind of juries ultimately undermined their ability to look at broader evidence and to see it as only part of the jigsaw to solving a case?

Anna trawls through the archives as well as meeting people who both champion the way the breakthrough has improved investigations, but caution against over reliance.

Among those contributing to the programme are: Baroness Helena Kennedy KC; forensic science expert, Professor Jim Fraser; Dr Sue Pope, who has been an expert witness in many legal cases; Michael Crompton, writer of ITV series Code of a Killer about the Colin Pitchfork murder, the first case to use DNA fingerprinting; and Professor of Forensic Genetics, Peter Gill who worked on the Amanda Knox case and recently gave evidence in a high profile Norwegian case that ended as a proven miscarriage of justice that relied upon DNA evidence.

Anna gives her own personal take on how DNA fingerprinting has impacted on her legal career and asks if there are any lessons still to be learnt about the existence of DNA fingerprinting and how it's handled and perceived.

Producer: Ashley Byrne
A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 21:00 Legend (m001svnc)
The Joni Mitchell Story

5. Dog Eat Dog

Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.

In episode five, we hear how meeting a towering figure of jazz leads to a new collaboration, but Joni's hopes for a hit are unfulfilled. As the 1980s arrive, Joni continues to experiment with new sounds, but discovers the cost of being a middle-aged woman in pop. This is the decade of new politics and new love, hard knocks and bad omens. Joni experiences a series of misfortunes, and the pain of giving up her daughter resurfaces once more, in a song.

“I’ve always been a creature of change” – Joni Mitchell

Through archive, fresh interviews, narration, immersive sound design and an original score, we trace the story of an extraordinary life and explore what makes Joni Mitchell a singular artist: the genius of her lyrics; her incredible talent as guitarist, painter and producer; and her restless drive for innovation.

We follow Joni from her ‘flatlander’ childhood on the Canadian prairies, through the folk clubs of Toronto and Detroit, to a redwood cottage in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon, to a cave in Crete, to a deserted desert highway, to recording studios and stages around the world. From her earliest home recordings to masterpieces like Blue, Court and Spark, and Hejira, we explore some of the stories behind her best-loved songs and celebrate her remarkable return to live performance in the past year: “like seeing, in the wild, a rare bird long feared extinct”.

Our guide through the series is the California-born, Manchester-based musician, Jesca Hoop. We hear tributes from musicians who have played alongside Joni and from those who have been inspired and influenced by her music. We hear from friends, including Larry Klein and Graham Nash; and from music critics and biographers, including Ann Powers, David Yaffe, Lindsay Zoladz, Kate Mossman, Barney Hoskyns, Miles Grier and Jenn Pelly.

The Joni Mitchell Story comes from the production team behind BBC Radio 4’s award-winning podcast Soul Music – “… the gold standard for music podcasts…” (Esquire).

Producers: Mair Bosworth and Eliza Lomas
Production Coordinator: Andrew Lewis
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Story Editor: Emma Harding
Story Consultant: John Yorke
Sound Design and Original Music: Hannis Brown
Studio Engineers: Ilse Lademann and Michael Harrison


SAT 21:30 Influenced (m001y3v1)
Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat

Left the Chat: No 5. Thug Shaker Central

When investigative journalist Aric Toler saw a handful of supposedly fake classified documents online, he had a hunch - what if they were real? The only way to find out was to hunt for the original source.

It was a journey that took him through the deep internet, beyond the reach of search engines. He scoured through chat forums about SpongeBob SquarePants, infiltrated servers named after edgy memes, and found a vital clue in screenshots of a video game about zombies. Eventually, Toler got his man - and his identity was not at all what you might expect.

At the heart of this story is the chat service Discord - a casual, conversational space without which, Toler thinks, his unlikely leaker would never have posted classified documents online.

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:00 News (m001yz5l)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SAT 22:15 The Food Programme (m001yqym)
Lessons from Leeds and Amsterdam on childhood obesity

Amsterdam and Leeds are two of the only places in the world to have cut rates of childhood obesity — and they’ve not done it by focussing just on diet. Sheila Dillon finds out how these two locally-based policies worked, and why the political circumstances around them were just as important as the policies themselves. She speaks to parents, academics, policy experts and public health leaders to find out what we can learn from these two remarkable interventions.

In Leeds, the local authority has prioritised health in the early years over the last 20 years, and part of that is working with the charity HENRY (Health, Exercise and Nutrition for the Really Young). HENRY has trained council staff to deliver courses helping parents to teach their kids healthy eating right from the start. In 2019 Leeds made national headlines becoming the first city in the UK to see a small, but significant drop in childhood obesity, and a bigger drop of 10% in the most deprived areas. The data shows that overall between 2009 and 2017 obesity dropped from 9.4% to 8.8% in four-to-five year olds, while levels remained unchanged in similar cities.

When it comes to improving children’s health, Amsterdam’s Healthy Weight Program attracted a lot of interest from around the world, becoming the shining example of what can be done to tackle high levels of obesity though action on a city-level. The Program’s main principle was ‘the healthy choice should be the easy choice’, aiming to reduce childhood obesity through healthy food and drink, exercise and better quality sleep. From 2012 to 2015 the percentage of children who were overweight or obese went down 12%, from 21% to 18.5%, with the biggest fall amongst the lowest socio-economic groups.

In the programme we hear from: Alice Wiseman, Joint Director of Public Health for Gateshead and Newcastle, and Vice President of The Association of Directors of Public Health; Dr Dolly Van Tulleken, policy consultant and visiting researcher at the MCR Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge; Jaap Seidell, Professor of Nutrition and Health at The Free University in Amsterdam; and Kim Roberts, Chief Executive of the HENRY charity.

Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol


SAT 23:00 You Heard It Here First (m001yz5n)
Series 2

Five: 'I never heard a cow!'

Chris McCausland asks Steph McGovern and Jarred Christmas to take on Hugh Dennis and Thanyia Moore. Can guests work out where in the UK Chris is from audio alone? The teams must figure out what on earth is being advertised on TV, guess what famous objects or locations children are trying to describe.
Producer: Sasha Bobak
Assistant Producer: Becky Carewe-Jeffries
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Production Coordinator: Dan Marchini

A BBC Studios Production

An EcoAudio certified production


SAT 23:30 Round Britain Quiz (m001yqjm)
Programme 8, 2024

(8/12)
Kirsty Lang welcomes back the pairs from Scotland and Northern Ireland in another revenge fixture, after Northern Ireland's victory the last time these teams met. Val McDermid and Alan McCredie are the Scotland team, and Paddy Duffy and Freya McClements represent Northern Ireland.

Questions in today's edition:

Q1 What could Hobson's employer, Robert E. Howard's Barbarian and Pauline McLynn be said to have jointly contributed to the history of detection?

Q2 (from Michael Beech) What links an aborted Carnegie Hall performance by a sensitive soloist, a quiz player changing his mind, and a traditional art form in Coimbra in Portugal?

Q3 Music: Which Tears for Fears song could you expect to hear next in this sequence?

Q4 (from Graham Bingham) If the following make a sequence: the father of the Living Dead, a cinematic pioneer, a monolithic sci-fi author, a Big Deal in a White House, and the Swazi companion of 'I' - which Arthurian brothers could come next?

Q5 If a Central African rebel movement bypasses Crawley and this piece of paper would take you to London from here, why might you sing about the number 8.124?

Q6 (from Robert Crawley) Music: Why might the band behind the fourth piece perform any, or all, of the other three?

Q7 If Denzel of the Netherlands teamed up with Gorgeous George, and Rachel's sometime boyfriend joined forces with the writer of 'Plastic Jesus', where would you find them all?

Q8 (from Peter Green) Explain how the following come between five and twenty: an untouched domain, a Fast and Furious action man, and an actor who portrayed a detective who sucked.

Producer Paul Bajoria

SUNDAY 05 MAY 2024

SUN 00:00 Midnight News (m001yz5q)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


SUN 00:15 Open Book (m001yqjk)
Sunjeev Sahota

Alex Clark talks to Sunjeev Sahota about his new novel, The Spoiled Heart - an emotive mix of fiery union politics and tragic family secrets.

Plus two unique new books for people living with dementia. Alex discusses 'dementia-friendly' books with the authors: Matt Singleton, whose book Looking Back At The Beatles, is the first from his new publishing company, Cognitive Books, and published in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Society; and Sarah Lawrance, who has written Bewick Tales: Stories From The Life And Work Of Thomas Bewick, also from a new publishing initiative, Open Ended Books, from creative ageing charity Equal Arts.

And this month's Editors Pick. Zoe Yang, Commissioning Editor at Bonnier Books, looks ahead and shares her reading recommendation for June: Juli Min’s debut novel, Shanghailanders.

Presenter: Alex Clark
Producer: Emma Wallace

Book List – Sunday 28 March

Ours Are The Streets by Sunjeev Sahota
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
The China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota
Looking Back At The Beatles by Matt Singleton
Bewick Tales: Stories From The Life And Work Of Thomas Bewick by Sarah Lawrance
Shanghailanders by Juli Min


SUN 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yz5s)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yz5v)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


SUN 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yz5x)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 05:30 News Briefing (m001yz5z)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 05:43 Bells on Sunday (m001yybl)
St Martin-in-the-Fields in the City of Westminster, London

Bells on Sunday, comes from St Martin-in-the-Fields in the City of Westminster, London where this year’s Ascension Day Service will feature music and reflections celebrating 100 years of religious broadcasting by the BBC. St Martin’s has twelve bells cast by the Whitechapel of London foundry in 1988 replacing an 18th century ring of bells that were gifted to Perth in Western Australia as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. The tenor bell weighs twenty nine and a quarter hundredweight and is tuned to the key of D. We hear them ringing ‘Stedman Cinques’.


SUN 05:45 In Touch (m001yqv4)
Redundancies at Guide Dogs; Voting Equipment

As the charity Guide Dogs looked into its own future, they have predicted some financial hardship due to rising costs. Similarly to many organisations within the charity sector, they are having to come up with ways of cutting costs in order to maintain current levels of service provision. Their staff have been told that redundancies are a possibility for many. Guide Dogs' CEO Andrew Lennox tells In Touch what is happening and why, in his view, such cuts are necessary.

With elections just around the corner, In Touch explores a new audio voting system: the McGonagle Reader. It will be available at a few local council areas for the 2024 local and general elections.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Pete Liggins
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


SUN 06:00 News Summary (m001yy8t)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4


SUN 06:05 Beyond Belief (m001yqtn)
Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir: Religion and Politics in India

In a temple in Southall, west London, Giles Fraser hears about the spiritual significance for British Hindus of the opening of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, consecrated with much fanfare in January 2024 by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As Indians go to the polls in the largest democratic election in history, what is the relationship between religion and politics in the country?

Giles is joined by Professor Shruti Kapila, Associate Professor Ashraf Hoque and Dr Prakash Shah to discuss the temple's significance and the controversy that surrounded it, built on the site of a previous Muslim mosque, which was pulled down by a mob in 1992. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is campaigning for re-election. He's the head of the BJP party, aligned to ideas of Hindu nationalism. Does the temple help us to understand the complicated and contested political, cultural and historical grounds over which the current election is being fought?

Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell


SUN 06:35 On Your Farm (m001yy8w)
Jeremy Clarkson - learning to farm

Jeremy Clarkson is an unlikely farmer. He rose to fame as the presenter of ‘Top Gear’, known for his ridiculous stunts and loud opinions. But his recent TV appearances have been about his attempts to run his farm in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. In the process, he’s introduced the trials and tribulations of farming to a whole new audience.

While many in the farming community have embraced the programme, which sees Clarkson struggling with the realities of running a farm, others are critical, saying he is too controversial to be a good advert for British agriculture.

In this programme Charlotte Smith visits Clarkson’s farm - named "Diddly Squat" after how much money it makes - to find out what he’s learnt from his foray into agriculture.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons


SUN 06:57 Weather (m001yy8y)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 07:00 News and Papers (m001yy90)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.


SUN 07:10 Sunday (m001yy92)
The Muslim Vote, Lama Rod Owens, Faith Schools

The way many Muslims have voted in the local elections this week has raised some difficult questions for Labour. We hear from Shaista Aziz one of ten Labour councillors in Oxford who resigned in the autumn over the party's position on the Gaza conflict, and Stephen Fisher, Professor of Political Sociology at Oxford University, on what it could mean for a general election.

Lama Rod Owens is one of a new generation of Buddhist teachers centred on living in a just way, with a focus on social change, identity and spiritual wellness - with many of his practises taking place online. He’s currently on tour in the UK and joins us to discuss how his Methodist upbringing in America’s South has helped form his unique practise of Tibetan Buddhism.

The government announced this week that it was consulting on whether to lift current rules that mean faith schools can only offer up to 50 percent of their places to pupils on the basis of religious belief. The Catholic Education Service has been lobbying for over a decade and claims it’s previously held back from opening schools because of the restrictions. Sir Edward Leigh MP, Conservative MP and former President of the Catholic Union, and Dr Ruth Wareham, Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham, discuss whether we’re likely to soon see more Catholic free schools being established, whether lifting the rules will increase divisions in society, and if high performing faith schools are the result of them being more socially selective.

Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Alexa Good & Rosie Dawson
Production Coordinator: David Baguley
Editor: Tim Pemberton


SUN 07:54 Radio 4 Appeal (m001yxl1)
Hope Health Action

Paralympic champion swimmer Ellie Simmonds makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of Hope Health Action.

To Give:
- UK Freephone 0800 404 8144
-You can donate online at bbc.co.uk/appeal/radio4
- Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That’s the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope). Mark the back of the envelope ‘Hope Health Action’.
- Cheques should be made payable to ‘Hope Health Action’.
Please note that Freephone and online donations for this charity close at 23.59 on the Saturday after the Appeal is first broadcast. However the Freepost option can be used at any time.

Registered charity number: 1163642


SUN 07:57 Weather (m001yy94)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 08:00 News and Papers (m001yy96)
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the Sunday papers


SUN 08:10 Sunday Worship (m001yy98)
In a Divided Society

A Service from Fisherwick Presbyterian Church in Belfast. In the year that marks 100 years of religious broadcasting on the BBC but also the opening of the first BBC station in Northern Ireland, Rev Dr Bert Tosh reflects on the role of religious broadcasting in Northern Ireland’s often divided society.

Fisherwick Church was one of three Belfast churches in the 1920s to have lines installed by the BBC for the transmission of services and since then has been a frequent venue for them.

Led by the minister, the Rev. Andrew Galbraith.

Cantate Domino (Pitoni )
All people that on earth do dwell (OLD HUNDREDTH)
Isaiah 55 1- 11 Mark 4.26-32
Great is Thy faithfulness (FAITHFULNESS)
Mark 4.26-32 I heard the voice of Jesus say (Philip Stopford)
He will hold me fast (HE WILL HOLD ME FAST)
Lord for the Years (LORD OF THE YEARS)
Director of Music: Neale Agnew
Organists: Ivan McComb and Luke Boyle


SUN 08:48 A Point of View (m001yqzr)
Protagonists of Reality

Megan Nolan on the allure of New York and the city's 'main character' syndrome.

The city is, she says, 'the place that makes me happier to be alive than anywhere else - not in spite but because of its thoroughly human hopelessness.'

'Nature is nature, permanent and without moral taint,' writes Megan, 'but cities are paeans to the marvellous filth of the human spirit.'

'The real challenge is being moved by the effort to remain open to one another despite being consoled by surroundings made not of beauty and relief, but of cement and strife.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith


SUN 08:58 Tweet of the Day (m001yy9b)
Stephen Moss on the Swift

A new series of Tweet of the Day for Sunday morning revealing personal and fascinating stories from some fresh voices who have been inspired by birds, their calls and encounters.

In this episode falling on International Dawn Chorus Day, world renowned ornithologist and author Stephen Moss outlines that when he used to live in London it was easy to miss the subtle changes in the seasons. But even in Britain's Capital the arrival of screaming of flocks of swifts in the first week of May was hard to ignore.

A BBC Audio production from Bristol
Producer : Andrew Dawes
Studio Engineer : Michael Harrison


SUN 09:00 Broadcasting House (m001yy9d)
Local Elections Debrief

A debrief of the weekend's local elections results. Also on the programme, we discuss the decline of the dawn chorus and hear from the director of the National Gallery.


SUN 10:00 The Reunion (m001yxpr)
London Olympics: Super Saturday

On Saturday 4 August 2012, 80,000 people leapt to their feet inside the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, to witness Mo Farah clinch gold in the 10,000m final. Strangers hugged in pubs up and down the country, families jumped wildly on sofas at home, and millions watched in awe around the world.

This was the climax of Team GB’s success at its first home Games since 1948 and has forever been etched into the nation’s hearts as Super Saturday - selected by a BBC Sport panel as their greatest-ever Olympic moment.

Farah’s win marked the third gold medal for Team GB within an electric 44 minutes inside the stadium - opening with Jessica Ennis-Hill’s heptathlon glory and swiftly followed by Greg Rutherford’s winning leap in the long jump.

But the day’s tally had started earlier that morning on the waters of Eton Dorney with the men’s coxless four and a triumphant battle with Australia.

As the rowers’ success rippled out across Team GB, the women's cycling team were preparing to reach for gold over at the velodrome in the team pursuit, and they would smash world records in the process.

Joining Kirsty Wark to recall this momentous day for British sport is Dame Jessica Ennis Hill, Dame Laura Kenny, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Steve Cram, Carl Hicks and Sir Mo Farah.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Ruth Abrahams
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 11:00 The Archers Omnibus (m001yy9g)
Writer: Caroline Jester
Director: Rosemary Watts and Pip Swallow

Brian Aldridge…. Charles Collingwood
Lilian Bellamy…. Sunny Ormonde
Alice Carter…. Hollie Chapman
Eddie Grundy…. Trevor Harrison
Emma Grundy…. Emerald O’Hanrahan
George Grundy…. Angus Stobie
Will Grundy…. Philip Molloy
Miranda Elliott…. Lucy Fleming
Jakob Hakansson…. Paul Venables
Chelsea Horrobin…. Madeleine Leslay
Joy Horville…. Jackie Lye
Alistair Lloyd…. Michael Lumsden
Jim Lloyd…. John Rowe
Kate Madikane…. Perdita Avery
Dr Azra Malik…. Yasmin Wilde
Denise Metcalf…. Clare Perkins
Lynda Snell…. Carole Boyd
Robert Snell…. Michael Bertenshaw
Mick…. Martin Barrass


SUN 12:15 Profile (m001yy9j)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Saturday]


SUN 12:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001ypzj)
Series 8

5. The Make Off

When does forgetting to pay become a police matter?

Accidently walked off with bottle that's not been scanned? Put a croissant through as a roll? Forgot to pay for your petrol? Alfie explores the legal ins & outs of the 'make off'.

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Producer: Sam Holmes

An EcoAudio Certified Production
A BBC Studios Audio Production


SUN 12:57 Weather (m001yy9l)
The latest weather forecast


SUN 13:00 The World This Weekend (m001yy9n)
Radio 4's look at the week's big stories from both home and around the world.


SUN 13:30 The Switch (m001yy9q)
Three people from three different eras reveal what it's like to live with multiple personalities, or Dissociative Identity Disorder.

A retired librarian who lived through the disorder's most controversial time and has found peace as several parts; an early YouTuber who fought stigma about DID and now lives as one person; and a young TikToker navigating life as a 'system'.

During May, the BBC will be sharing stories and tips on how to support your mental health and wellbeing. Go to bbc.co.uk/mentalwellbeing to find out more.

Presenter/producer: Lucy Proctor
Researcher: Anna Harris
Mixed by: James Beard


SUN 14:00 Gardeners' Question Time (m001yqz5)
Postbag: RHS Urban Gardening Show

What's the difference between anvil secateurs and bypass secateurs? What should I do with well-used compost? If you could design a gardening utopia, what would you include?

Peter Gibbs and his team of horticultural experts have packed up the wellies and travelled to Manchester for the RHS Urban Gardening Show. While exploring the exhibitions, they dig through the GQT inbox to answer your gardening queries. On the panel this week are self-proclaimed botanical geek James Wong, house plants expert Anne Swithinbank, and Curator of RHS Bridgewater Marcus Chilton Jones.

The GQT team are also joined by 'unusual houseplant' specialist Jacob James, 'Cloud Gardener' Jason Williams and landscape designer Conal McGuire, who provide some insightful knowledge on how we can create greener and more eco-friendly spaces in urban environments.

Senior Producer: Bethany Hocken
Assistant Producer: Rahnee Prescod

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 14:45 Short Works (m001tjlp)
Dancing Ganesh

Michael Nardone reads a short story by Alan Spence, as a frustrated climber seeks enlightenment in Kathmandu.

Produced by Eilidh McCreadie

Alan Spence is an award-winning poet, playwright and novelist based in Edinburgh, where he runs the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre. Appointed Edinburgh Makar in 2017, he is also Professor Emeritus in Creative Writing at University of Aberdeen. His longer works include novels, 'Its Colours They Are Fine', 'The Stone Garden', 'The Magic Flute', 'Way to Go' and 'The Pure Land'.

Michael Nardone plays DCI Neil McKinven in BBC crime drama ‘Traces’, and has appeared in hit TV series ‘The Night Manager’, ‘Line of Duty’ and ‘Rome’. Stage credits include Black Watch, Knives in Hens, and King Lear and Macbeth for the National Theatre.


SUN 15:00 My Mother Said I Never Should (m001yy9s)
Episode 2

Charlotte Keatley adapts her powerful, poignant and bittersweet stage play for audio. The drama traces four generations of women against the backdrop of the huge social changes of the twentieth century.

The four women revisit Doris's snowbound house following Jack's death; as they pack up the objects and clothes of 70 years of family life memories haunt and buried secrets threaten to surface.

DORIS..... Lesley Nicol
MARGARET.....Siobhan Finneran
JACKIE.....Cecilia Appiah
ROSIE.....Bebe Massey
CHILD DORIS.....Matilda Kent
CHILD MARGARET.....Isla Pritchard
CHILD JACKIE.....Mimi-Raie Mhlanga

Pianist Adam Hutchins
Sound Design by Sharon Hughes
Production Co-ordinator Pippa Day
Written by Charlotte Keatley
Produced and Directed by Nadia Molinari

A BBC Studios Audio Production

This production is dedicated to the memory of Wyllie Longmore.


SUN 16:00 Bookclub (m001yy9v)
Nicholas Shakespeare: Six Minutes in May

James Naughtie and readers quiz Nicholas Shakespeare about his book, Six Minutes In May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister. It chronicles the dramatic political and military events of 1940 which led to the momentous Norway Debate and Chamberlain’s resignation.

Upcoming recordings at BBC Broadcasting House in London:

Wednesday 15 May at 1300: Lucy Caldwell on These Days

Thursday 6 June at 1245: Marlon James on A Brief History of Seven Killings


SUN 16:30 Round Britain Quiz (m001yy9x)
Programme 9, 2024

(9/12)
Earlier in the series when Stephen Maddock and Frankie Fanko of the Midlands played Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras of the North of England, the Midlands won emphatically. Can the North reverse the result today? Kirsty Lang provides the cryptic questions and the helpful hints too, if they need them.

The questions in today's quiz are:

Q1 Why would a breath-freshening confectionery item, the object of Adrian Mole's affections, and a Beethoven piano sonata, be likely to please the Prime Minister?

Q2 (from David Brain) Why might racing to the Isle of Man help you to get a pint that's been improved, a lascivious look that results in correspondence, or a visionary who writes quiz questions?

Q3 Music: Which entrapped family would particularly enjoy this sequence, and what might be their contribution?

Q4 (from Dr Anthony Edwards) If fifth place might make you think of a rifle, fourth place is a Victorian singer in search of something, third place gave us The Iron Heel and second place sounds like the voice of Radiohead, why would first place go to a sort of bookstand?

Q5 (from Charlie Wakely) Why could the progenitors of an unusually arch handbag and a poetic account of a seat of learning for women find common cause in a railway station bookshop?

Q6 (from Jill Butler) Music: How might these musicians add colour to the lives of Miss Sharp's school principal, a faithless naval officer and a man who set investigations in motion in the mid-19th century?

Q7 (from Keith Scholes) Why might a vainglorious poetic king of kings, the voice of Yoda, an obscenity trial, an Argentine midfielder and manager, and the leader of a musical occult meeting, lead you to the real and lyrical origins of some working men?

Q8 (from Peter Green) A Scot would know how a high-ranking mafioso and a high-ranking Ottoman leader might come together with a pseudonymous writer killed by a sniper in the First World War, to form the subject of a Peter Blake canvas. Do you?

Producer: Paul Bajoria


SUN 17:00 Witness History (w3ct4xjn)
Japan surrenders in China

In the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire. The one in China was held at the Forbidden City in Beijing bringing an end to eight years of occupation. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese generals handed over their swords. The United States, China, Russia and the United Kingdom were all represented. John Stanfield, now 103, is the last surviving British person who was there. He recalls to Josephine McDermott how he signed the surrender declaration documents on behalf of the British.


SUN 17:10 The Invention Of... (m001ypym)
China

To kowtow or not kowtow

Britain was late in its contacts with China and the Qing dynasty - the Portuguese, the Dutch and the Spanish had all headed east long before Lord McCartney's embassy tried to establish a formal relationship in 1792/3. Although it failed, this mission is famous for one thing - whether the British envoy did or did not kowtow to the Chinese Emperor. So began a fractious, ultimately shameful century for Anglo-Chinese relations. Travelling to Hong Kong, taken by the British following the First Opium War, Misha Glenny and Miles Warde find a city still marked by its colonial heritage, but also increasingly under the thumb of its new masters in Beijing.

Contributors include Hong Kong activist, Nathan Law; Henrietta Harrison, author of The Perils of Interpreting and Professor of Chinese history; and Frances Wood, author of No Dogs and Not Many Chinese History: Treaty Port Life in China

This is episode 56 of How to Invent a Country on BBC Sounds and is a BBC Studios production


SUN 17:54 Shipping Forecast (m001yyb0)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


SUN 17:57 Weather (m001yyb2)
The latest weather reports and forecast


SUN 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yyb4)
Swinney warns of delays to rebuilding SNP if he faces leadership challenge


SUN 18:15 Pick of the Week (m001yyb6)
Deb Grant

This week Deb will be exploring human and primate romance, uncovering some epic rock'n'roll breakups, delving into the possible benefits of gambling for children, sharing music from a lifelong street pianist and a masked Stetson-wearing storyteller. And discussing the enduring cultural significance of... Mallett's mallet.

Presenter: Deb Grant
Producer: Elizabeth Foster
Production Co-ordinators: Paul Holloway & Brigid Harrison-Draper


SUN 19:00 The Archers (m001yyb8)
Brian gives painkillers to a groggy Alice. She is hungover but claims she’s ill. She denies drinking but Brian tells her lying is not going to help. Chris arrives – Alice forgot to pick up Martha. Chris guesses she has been drinking and Alice storms off so Brian fills him in. She returns, furious. Chris reassures her she can see Martha as long as she’s sober. But all she hears is the threat of losing access. Brian says Jennifer would be so ashamed of her and, hurt by his words, Alice walks out.

George is at the shop looking for drinks for a party. He can’t afford much and Joy tells him fruit cider is on offer. In the end he has to settle for it. Alistair pops in and says he’s having a quiet night in and Joy mentions Denise bought an expensive bottle of sparkling wine for a night with friends. Alice arrives and despite Joy telling her the shop is closed insists on getting a few things. She picks up snacks, demands some vodka, pays and rushes out. Joy says she shouldn’t have sold her the drink but Alistair says Alice is an adult.
Later George is on the way home from the party when he comes across Alice slumped, drunk in her car. He leaves a voice mail for Will saying he’s going to drive Aunty Alice home. En route she feels sick and starts trying to open the door. Distracted, George swerves and hits an oncoming car which crashes into the river.


SUN 19:15 The Art of Relativity (m001q0rh)
Einstein's theory of relativity created a profound shift in human thought, overturning deeply held certainties about time and space, appearance and reality, stillness, movement and speed. It revolutionised physics, and its verification in 1919 by British astronomers established Einstein as the most famous scientist on the planet. But ideas as reality-bending as these couldn’t stay confined to one sphere for long. In this feature, writer Jerry Brotton explores how Einstein’s thought crossed over and transformed the arts – from fiction, poetry, painting and sculpture to classical music and jazz – a transformation that began in the early 1920s and still reverberating a century later.

Hearing from artists, musicians, physicists, historians and writers, Jerry uncovers the impact of the theory of relativity on authors such as Virginia Woolf and William Carlos Williams; on the visual arts, including Picasso’s cubist paintings, Alexander Calder’s incredible kinetic sculptures and contemporary artist Conrad Shawcross’s installations; on music, from Philip Glass’s opera Einstein on the Beach to John Coltrane’s study of relativity to transform the harmonic structures of jazz. Creative boundaries between science and art dissolved. Artists and writers became fluent in new ideas of space-time and explored how to represent them in print, on canvas and to the ear.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Einstein himself, who welcomed the exchange of ideas with artists and loved music, would sometimes consider his own thinking in aesthetic as well as scientific terms, quoting the poet Keats: 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'.

Presenter: Jerry Brotton
Producer: Simon Hollis

A Brook Lapping Production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 19:45 Why Do We Do That? (p0d9y33g)
Why Do We Shake Hands?

The handshake has been threatened several times throughout history. It was even made illegal in Prescott Arizona due to the Spanish Flu — and yet we keep returning to it. In this episode, Ella Al-Shamahi delves into a possible biological explanation for why we handshake. Studies have shown that we bring our hands close to our face after a handshake, and then subconsciously take a sniff (inhalation through the nostrils doubles). The human body emits over 2000 volatile compounds that change depending on our mood, e.g. if we’re feeling scared, nervous or happy. So, do we handshake to literally sniff out the other person? Ella speaks to neuroscientist Dr Eva Mishor from Weizmann Institute of Science to hear about her fascinating studies involving hidden cameras, life-size mannequins, sweaty smells and why handshakes can help us make better decisions. Great British Bake Off star Michael Chakraverty recounts a particularly important handshake during bread week.


SUN 20:00 Feedback (m001yqq0)
Local Radio Fallout, Record Review and Michael Spicer

It's been 18 months since the BBC first announced sweeping changes to Local Radio in England. Now, most of the 39 stations share regional output on weekdays from 2pm and then national programming after 6pm. The decision immediately led to howls of protest from staff, politicians and Feedback listeners. This week, Andrea has been speaking to the person behind these changes, the Head of Audio and Digital for BBC England, Chris Burns.

Last week Radio 3 Controller, Sam Jackson, explained the rationale behind his recent changes to the station’s schedule. But not all of you were convinced by his reasoning so, this week, Andrea is addressing some more of your comments.

And the comedian Michael Spicer joins Andrea to talk about his new series No Room on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. The pair delve into the art of satire and why low hanging fruit can still be funny...

Presented by Andrea Catherwood
Produced by Leeanne Coyle
A Whistledown Scotland production for BBC Radio 4


SUN 20:30 Last Word (m001yqz9)
C.J.Sansom, Olga Fikotová-Connolly, Dr Jenny Vaughan OBE, Sir Andrew Davis

Matthew Bannister on C.J. Sansom, the author best known for creating the Tudor-era detective Matthew Shardlake.

Dr Jenny Vaughan OBE, the neurologist who campaigned on behalf of doctors charged with gross negligence manslaughter.

Olga Fikotová-Connolly, the Czech-born Olympic gold medallist who fell in love with an American hammer thrower during the cold war.

Sir Andrew Davies, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra who made a big impact on the Proms.

Interviewee: Antony Topping
Interviewee: Merja Connolly-Freund
Interviewee: Matt Dunckley
Interviewee: Sir Nicholas Kenyon

Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies

Archive Used:

Shardlake, Official Trailer, Hulu, Youtube uploaded 10/04/2024; CJ Sansom discussion his book 'Dissolution', Bookclub, BBC Radio 4 06/08/2009; CJ Sansom reading, Bookclub, BBC Radio 4, 06/08/2009; Dissolution, Episode 1, 15 Minute Drama, BBC Radio 4, 03/09/2012; Olga Fikotová-Connolly interview, Sporting Witness: Love at the Cold War Olympics, BBC World Service, 19/12/ 2016; Fikotova shines in Melbourne with discus gold, Olympics.com, 1957; Harold Connolly and Olga Fikotova arrive in New York, NY-3 Telenews Daily, 24/04/1957; Reconnecting Hope: When things go wrong what part should we play?, Jenny Vaughan, TEDxNHS, Tedx Talks YouTube channel, uploaded 11/11/2022; Mr David Sellu, BBC News London, 05/11/2013; Jenny Vaughan interview, Jenny Vaughan YouTube channel, uploaded 09/03/2017; Andrew Davis, Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, 07/09/1986; Andrew Davis, Closing Speech, BBC Last Night of the Proms 12/09/1992;


SUN 21:00 Money Box (m001yybb)
[Repeat of broadcast at 12:04 on Saturday]


SUN 21:25 Radio 4 Appeal (m001yxl1)
[Repeat of broadcast at 07:54 today]


SUN 21:30 From Our Own Correspondent (m001yybd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:30 on Saturday]


SUN 22:00 Westminster Hour (m001yybg)
Ben Wright is joined by the chair of the Conservative Party, Richard Holden; Shadow Business Minister, Rushanara Ali; and the pollster, Scarlett Maguire. They discuss the fallout from the local and mayoral elections in England, and the latest developments over the SNP leadership. George Parker - political editor of the Financial Times - brings expert insight and analysis. The programme also includes a discussion between the writer Mary-Ann Sieghart and former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe, about whether London's private members' clubs still play a role in the political scene.


SUN 23:00 In Our Time (m001yqp3)
Mercury

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet which is closest to our Sun. We see it as an evening or a morning star, close to where the Sun has just set or is about to rise, and observations of Mercury helped Copernicus understand that Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun, so displacing Earth from the centre of our system. In the 20th century, further observations of Mercury helped Einstein prove his general theory of relativity. For the last 50 years we have been sending missions there to reveal something of Mercury's secrets and how those relate to the wider universe, and he latest, BepiColombo, is out there in space now.

With

Emma Bunce
Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics and Director of the Institute for Space at the University of Leicester

David Rothery
Professor of Planetary Geosciences at the Open University

And

Carolin Crawford
Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production

Reading list:

Emma Bunce, ‘All (X-ray) eyes on Mercury’ (Astronomy & Geophysics, Volume 64, Issue 4, August 2023)

Emma Bunce et al, ‘The BepiColombo Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer: Science Goals, Instrument Performance and Operations’ (Space Science Reviews: SpringerLink, volume 216, article number 126, Nov 2020)

David A. Rothery, Planet Mercury: From Pale Pink Dot to Dynamic World (Springer, 2014)


SUN 23:45 Short Works (m001yqz7)
A Thoroughly Modern Woman by Bita Taghavi

Susan considers herself to be a Thoroughly Modern Woman; after all, she’s been on a Pride March - and she has a Tesla parked outside. So why does she sometimes feel that life would be easier if she just keep her mouth shut? And what does her husband have against peonies? A moving and funny portrayal of a woman getting to grips with change.

Bita Taghavi is a Bristol-based writer and actor originally from Newcastle upon Tyne and this is her first work for R4. She’s always been slightly obsessed with the inner life of people, their secrets and truths.

Written and read by Bita Taghavi
Produced by Alison Crawford

MONDAY 06 MAY 2024

MON 00:00 Midnight News (m001yybj)
The latest news and weather forecast from BBC Radio 4.


MON 00:15 Crossing Continents (m001yqv6)
Kosovo: Euro or Bust

It's a quarter of a century since Kosovo emerged from a brutal war, one which pitted local ethnic Albanians against Serbs. Twenty-five years on, the government in Pristina is pressing ahead with reforms that could reinforce its separation from Serbia. They include banning the use of Serb dinars and curbing the import of things like Serb medicines. Pristina says the moves are needed to curb illegality and tax-evasion. But they’ve brought widespread complaints from local Serbs who feel victimised. Is the government justified in claiming there’s a rising risk of violence, or are the restrictions themselves making this more likely?

Producer and presenter: Ed Butler
Studio mix: Rod Farquhar
Editor: Penny Murphy
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman


MON 00:45 Bells on Sunday (m001yybl)
[Repeat of broadcast at 05:43 on Sunday]


MON 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yybn)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yybq)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


MON 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yybs)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


MON 05:30 News Briefing (m001yybv)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


MON 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yybx)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Prof Alison Jack of the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh


MON 05:45 Farming Today (m001yybz)
06/05/24 Behind the scenes on the Wildland Estate where Scotland's largest landowner is making big changes.

Just what happens when a foreign billionaire buys a vast tract of the Scottish Highlands and sets about changing it? Does Scotland’s biggest landowner Anders Holch Povlsen dictate everything that happens on his 80,000 acres of the Cairngorm National Park? Is he making money from it? Richard Baynes has been to the heart of Povlsen’s Wildland estate, talking to those charged with restoring nature on it and finding out how they work.
Produced and presented by Richard Baynes.


MON 05:57 Weather (m001yyc1)
Weather reports and forecasts for farmers


MON 06:00 Today (m001yyry)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


MON 09:00 Start the Week (m001yys0)
Protest and patriotism

May Day is the title of Jackie Kay’s new collection. The former Makar of Scotland explores a history of political protest, and the cultural influencers of the past, from Rabbie Burns to the poet Audre Lorde and Paul Robeson. She also celebrates the lives and activism of her parents, and grieves for their loss.

The Green MP Caroline Lucas wants to reclaim and rewrite England’s national story in her book, Another England. By exploring its radical tradition through its literary heritage she seeks to foreground the diverse writers and poets who spoke of a shared sense of identity and purpose, and a deep-rooted commitment to the natural world.

The journalist and writer Simon Heffer looks back a century to the interwar period, a time of radical transformation of British society post the Great War, as many of the old attitudes started to be swept away. In his history, Sing As We Go, he shows how the culture of the time both shaped and reflected these changes.

Producer: Katy Hickman


MON 09:45 Café Hope (m001yys2)
Laundry with love

Rachel Burden hears from Kate Blakemore who started the charity Motherwell Cheshire, which not only supports women and girls of all ages, but also runs Edna’s Laundrette where the local community can do their laundry for free.

Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they’re doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

We’re all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community, or it might be about trying to make one life a little bit easier. And the key here is in the trying. This is real life. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it’s always worth a go.

Presenter: Rachel Burden
Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
Researcher: Katie Morgan
Editor: Clare Fordham


MON 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yys4)
How to age well: A Woman's Hour special

We are all ageing, if we're lucky, so in this Woman's Hour special programme, we're exploring how women can age well.

Anita Rani is joined by a panel of women of different ages to talk about the possibility of re-invention and the wisdom of age, as well as the difficulties and barriers women face as they get older. What we can learn from each other and how can women of different generations support each other?

Author and psychologist, Dr Sharon Blackie’s book, Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life, explores stories of little-known but powerful elder women in European myth and folklore – with the hope of inspiring women now. She joins Anita to discuss what we can learn from these stories and the power she feels we can gain if we embrace getting older.

NHS GP Dr Radha Modgil is often to be found on BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks. Radha joins the discussion to explain the things we can do specifically to age well. She highlights exercise and nutrition, as well as the real need for women to have purpose in their lives, no matter what age they are and how that can impact our ageing both physically and mentally.

Our reporter Martha Owen meets Lindi, Sue & Celia in the British Library in London, at a meeting for the Older Peoples Advisory Group – a forum for older community members – hosted by Age UK Camden. They give their thoughts on ageing, what they’ve enjoyed most about getting older and why dancing trumps housework.

Cally Beaton was formerly a top TV exec, then she swapped the boardroom for the stage and became a comedian at the age of 45. Ten years later, she now refuses to make self-deprecating jokes in her sets. She joins Anita to discuss what it's like ageing in the public eye, defying her age and the importance of advice from older – and younger – women.

The writer and content creator Pippa Stacey's perceptions of ageing have changed because of her experience of a chronic illness. Pippa was diagnosed with ME, also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, while she was at university. She joins Anita to reflect on the impact of the physical changes she has experienced, the pressures young women are under and why she wants to listen to older, and wiser, women.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Guest: Sharon Blackie
Guest: Dr Radha Modgil
Guest: Cally Beaton
Guest: Pippa Stacey
Reporter: Martha Owen
Producer: Claire Fox
Editor: Erin Riley
Studio Engineer: Giles Aspen


MON 11:00 The Invention Of... (m001yys6)
China

Imperial Collapse

"You could do a whole programme on why you shouldn't build a capital in Beijing. It's a Mongolian camel camp." Paul French

Beijing means capital of the north, and was first used by the Ming to distinguish it from Nanjng, capital of the south. Home to the Forbidden City where the emperors lived, the centre had a tortuous relationship with many other parts of China. By the end of the Qing dynasty this relationship had totally broken down, but what was going to replace the old system? Step forward Dr Sun Yat-sen, professional republican revolutionary.

Contributors include Jonathan Fenby, former editor of the South China Post and author of the Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power; Professor Julia Lovell, whose books include The Great Wall and Maoism: A Global History; and also Frances Wood, author of No Dogs and Not Many Chinese, and Paul French, Midnight in Peking.

This is episode three of The Invention of China and episode 57 of How to Invent a Country on BBC Sounds.
The presenter is Misha Glenny, the producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde.


MON 11:45 The Miners' Strike: Return Journey (m001vs7z)
Sunderland

The year long miners’ strike, that started in March 1984, dominated the news for 12 months. It’s been described as “a site of contested memories” and it still evokes strong feelings in those who lived through the strike and had direct experience of it.

Chris Jackson, in his very first job as a young radio reporter in South Wales, found himself covering the dispute that scarred a generation and more. Now, 40 years after the start of the strike, he’s meeting people from different sides, and together they return to a place that holds some very personal memories.

In this episode, Chris is in Sunderland to meet Neil Foster, a fourth generation miner who went on strike for the full year. They meet outside the Stadium of Light, the home ground of Sunderland Football Club, which is built on the former site of the Monkwearmouth Colliery. It’s where Neil worked and its where he got arrested on a picket line during the strike.

Presenter: Chris Jackson
Producer: Jo Dwyer
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


MON 12:00 News Summary (m001yys8)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


MON 12:04 You and Yours (m001yysb)
ADHD Medication, Vending Machines, Gaming Emulators

Many people who are diagnosed ADHD take medication to help them manage some of the symptoms.
However, since autumn 2023 there has been a shortage in some medication which has led to some people rationing tablets and others going without.
The government has said that the shortage would end on several occasions but the shortage continues with growing concerns on the impact on people's work, studies and life.
We will be speaking to one father who is concerns his son won’t achieve the grades he needs at school because of limited supplies of his medication. And we also hear from ADHD UK and Ellie Middleton AKA the ‘autistic ADHDer’ @elliemidds.

Vending machines, there is 1 of them for every 55 people in the UK. That’s not quite as many as the 1 in 23 in Japan, but it seems we do love them.
We have a look into the world of vending in the UK, learning that there is more than a fizzy drink and packet of crisps to be found in them now.
We’ll be chatting to a farmer selling meat in a machine, and also to the association for the industry who will be giving us a brief history of their role in the UK.

And it’s been 35 years since Nintendo’s Gameboy was released. It is one of the biggest selling consoles of all time, revolutionised gaming, and was the platform that brought Tetris to the masses.
Well now fans of the Gameboy don’t have to own one to play them, instead many are turning to a new app on Apple devices. It’s called Delta and allows you to emulate the classic console. But is it legal to do so? Keza MacDonald will tell us all about it.

You can contact You & Yours by emailing youandyours@bbc.co.uk or using the hashtag #youandyours

Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Dave James


MON 12:57 Weather (m001yysd)
The latest weather forecast


MON 13:00 World at One (m001yysg)
Israel tells civilians to evacuate Rafah

We speak to a former aid for Hamas and to Ehud Olmert, former prime minister of Israel, who explains why he thinks a military invasion no longer serves any purpose.


MON 13:45 Assume Nothing: The Last Request (m0019r0c)
A Nightmare About to Dawn

Irish journalist Martin Barry was only 30 years old when he died at the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich, accompanied by his ex girlfriend Laura McDaid.

The night before he died, he asked Laura to fulfil his last request: to track down his birth mother and pass on a message.

Martin had been born in a mother and baby home in Co. Cork in Ireland. He'd never met his birth mother.

Twenty years later, along with her producer Kerry Jamison, Laura embarks on a search that will take her from the top of this island to the bottom and across the Irish sea, to fulfil the promise she made to Martin.


MON 14:00 The Archers (m001yyb8)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Sunday]


MON 14:15 The Train at Platform 4 (m001394s)
Cat

Episode Two of Punt and Dennis's new sitcom, set in the claustrophobic carriages of a cross-country rail service.

It's Friday night and everyone's looking forward to their weekend plans. But the journey home is struck with disaster when a celebrity cat goes missing on the train - Artemis Montmorency Wolfhandle the Third is potentially the new face of Kitty Krunch Cat Food but is set to miss a crucial audition if the train crew can't track her down. Meanwhile, Dev's plans for a hot date are thrown into turmoil when he learns the bitter truth about his receding hairline.

Our heroes are the long-suffering train crew who manage to scrape through every shift like a dysfunctional family – Train Manager, Sam (Rosie Cavaliero; Inside No. 9) First Class Steward, Gilbert (Kenneth Collard; Cuckoo), Catering Manager, Dev (Ali Shahalom; Muzlamic) and Trolley Operator Tasha (Amy Geldhill; Life). The passengers are made up of a rolling roster of guest stars, which includes the odd cameo from Punt and Dennis themselves.

Sam…. Rosie Cavaliero
Gilbert…. Kenneth Collard
Dev….. Ali Shahalom
Tasha….. Amy Gledhill
Cat Lady.... Freya Parker
American.... Hugh Dennis
Passenger.... Steve Punt

Written by....Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis
Producer… James Robinson
A BBC Studios Production


MON 14:45 Felicity Ward - Appisodes (m000q8zt)
Series 2

Smoking

The series in which stand up Felicity Ward uses phone apps to help her cope with modern life. In this episode, Felicity enlists the help of an anti-smoking app “Stop Smoking with Barbara” (voiced by Fern Brady). Can a phone app help her kick the habit and set her on the path to a better healthier Felicity?

Written and performed by Felicity Ward.
Script Editor: Gareth Gwynn
Production Co-Ordinator: Caroline Barlow
Producer: Adnan Ahmed

A BBC Studios Production


MON 15:00 Great Lives (m001yysl)
Queen Emma

Professor Alice Roberts, best known as the presenter of Digging for Britain, picks the wife of two English kings and the mother of two English kings. Queen Emma was born in Normandy and came to England as a diplomatic peaceweaver when she married Aethelred in 1002. Somehow she survived the invasion of the Danes under Swein Forkbeard and married his son, King Canute after Aethelred's death. Together with help from Professor Janina Ramirez - author of Femina - and Patricia Bracewell who has written a trilogy of historical novels based on Emma's life, Alice pieces together an extraordinary life, the richest woman in England, aunt of William the Conqueror, mother of Edward the Confessor.

Alice Roberts is Professor of Public Engagement in Science at Birmingham University and the author of Crypt: Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond
Programme also includes recorded audio of Professor Pauline Stafford, author of Gendering the Middle Ages

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde


MON 15:30 History's Secret Heroes (m001y3vd)
16. Raymond Gurême: Escape Artist

A young circus performer from a traveling family in France breaks out of an internment camp and dedicates himself to bringing the Nazis down.

Helena Bonham Carter shines a light on extraordinary stories from World War Two. Join her for incredible tales of deception, acts of resistance and courage.

A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Producer: Suniti Somaiya
Edit Producer: Melvin Rickarby
Assistant Producer: Lorna Reader
Executive Producer: Paul Smith
Written by Alex von Tunzelmann
Commissioning editor for Radio 4: Rhian Roberts


MON 16:00 The Switch (m001yy9q)
[Repeat of broadcast at 13:30 on Sunday]


MON 16:30 Soul Music (m001yysn)
[Repeat of broadcast at 10:30 on Saturday]


MON 17:00 PM (m001yysq)
Afternoon news and current affairs programme, reporting on breaking stories and summing up the day's headlines.


MON 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yyss)
The announcement comes hours after Israel instructed Palestinians to leave parts of Rafah


MON 18:30 It's a Fair Cop (m001yysv)
Series 8

6. Domestic Violence

When should the police get involved in people's personal lives?

Ever worried about a friend's new partner even when they say everything is 'fine'? In this week's episode Alfie looks into helping someone who might be under 'coercive control'.

Details of support for domestic abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Written and presented by Alfie Moore
Script Editor: Will Ing
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Baum
Producer: Sam Holmes

An EcoAudio Certified Production
A BBC Studios Audio Production


MON 19:00 The Archers (m001yy6n)
Alistair and Denise are driving to a hotel after an enjoyable dinner together. Nervous, they chat about the evening to come. They screech to a halt as Alistair spots headlights in the water – a car has gone off the bridge into the Am. George, frantic, is on the scene. They hear Mick shouting and George helps Denise pull him out of the water, Alistair goes to help Joy. He and George drag her to the shore but she’s unconscious having hit her head. To their relief she’s breathing and has a pulse. But then Mick tries to wade back in – Fallon is still in the car. Desperate, she screams for help, trapped as it fills up with water. George dives in again and Denise tries to follow. Alistair begs her not to even as Fallon reaches the surface. The back door was jammed on rocks on the river bed so George got her out of the driver’s side. Shortly afterward he makes it back to the surface too. They’re all alive! Denise praises George and Fallon thanks him.

Then he hears sirens and dashes off.
Alistair goes after George. Meanwhile he is busy shifting Alice into the driver’s seat of her car. He apologises to her but what else can he do? When Alistair arrives George tells him she has necked a whole bottle of vodka. Alistair remembers bitterly that he saw her buy it at the shop earlier that evening. As the emergency services arrive to speak to George, Alistair is distraught. Thumping the car he says: ‘Oh Alice, what have you done?'


MON 19:15 Front Row (m001yysx)
Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Jeremy Deller, Scarborough Spa Orchestra

Nick visits Scarborough and talks to Sir Alan Ayckbourn as he rehearses an old play - Things We Do For Love - and looks forward to the staging of his 90th play - Show and Tell.

Turner prize winning Artist Jeremy Deller, whose public artworks include We're Here Because We're Here to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, reveals his plans for a new creation for Scarborough's Marine Drive.

The Scarborough Spa Orchestra is the UK's only remaining professional seaside orchestra, and Nick meets its two of its members, music director Paul Laidlaw and flautist Kathy Seabrook.

Poets Charlotte Oliver and Wendy Pratt discuss finding inspiration in Scarborough.

Presenter: Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu


MON 20:00 The Briefing Room (m001yqq2)
How does America fix its border crisis?

Democrats and Republicans have promised to solve the border crisis in recent times but they've failed and it remains a huge election issue. How does the problem get resolved?

David Aaronovitch talks to:

Gustavo Solis, investigative border reporter at KPBS television station in San Diego
Doris Meissner is Senior Fellow and Director, U.S. Immigration Policy Program
Edward Alden, senior fellow at the Council on Fore­­­ign Relations and author of When the World Closed Its Doors: The Covid-19 Tragedy and the Future of Borders

Production team: Sally Abrahams, Kirsteen Knight and Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Vadon
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Sound engineers: Neil Churchill


MON 20:30 BBC Inside Science (m001yqq4)
Ugly animals and asteroid Apophis

One year ago, the World Health Organisation declared that COVID-19 would no longer be categorised as a global health emergency. But the pandemic has left us with a new normal in all areas of our lives. From vaccine rollout to wastewater monitoring, we’re asking: how has COVID altered the scientific landscape? Marnie Chesterton is joined in the studio by Linda Geddes, science journalist, and Barbara Kasprzyk-Hordern, Professor in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Bath, to discuss.

Are ugly animals getting the short end of the conservation stick? Whilst a few beautiful creatures, like tigers and panda bears, get good marketing and attract the most conservation efforts, comedian and biologist Simon Watt argues that the endangered animals which are less pleasing to the eye are being forgotten.

Also this week, we answer a listener’s question about the accuracy of using bug splats on cars to measure insect populations. Lead data analyst from the Kent Wildlife Trust, Lawrence Ball, gives us the details about the national citizen science survey, Bugs Matter, which sees people around the country measure insect splats on vehicle number plates as a marker of insect abundance.

And science journalist Roland Pease discusses the unprecedented scientific opportunity hurtling towards Earth in the form of asteroid Apophis. It will just miss our planet – in astronomical terms at least – but its proximity has astronomers excited.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producers: Ella Hubber, Sophie Ormiston and Hannah Robins
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth


MON 21:00 Start the Week (m001yys0)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:00 today]


MON 21:45 Café Hope (m001yys2)
[Repeat of broadcast at 09:45 today]


MON 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yysz)
Hamas accepts ceasefire deal as Rafah bombardment begins

The day began with Israel warning civilians in eastern Rafah to flee as they began a long-anticipated military operation in the city in the south of the Gaza Strip. But by day's end some Gazans were celebrating as news reached them that Hamas has accepted a ceasefire deal put forward by Egypt and Qatar. Israel's operation continues though, as Prime Minister Netanyahu says the deal is "far from meeting Israel's demands". Nonetheless, he has sent a delegation to the negotiations.

Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron has been welcoming his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for a state visit. The pair discussed tariffs, trade, and the war in Ukraine.

And should Wales, a land of song, have its own Eurovision entry? Campaigners have released a possible contender, it's called Anfonaf Angel and is sung by Sara Davies. We speak to her.


MON 22:45 You Are Here by David Nicholls (m001yyt1)
Episode 6

David Nicholls’ new novel, You Are Here, follows two isolated and lonely people who are thrown together by the endeavours of a mutual friend who believes they both need to ‘get out more'. A long weekend walking in the Lake District turns into a rain-lashed and wuthering journey across the valleys and moorlands of some England’s most spectacular countryside.

Marnie is a freelance copy editor, spending most of her days alone in her south London flat. After a disastrous marriage in her early 20s, romance and companionship seem to have passed her by. Now, in her late 30s, she feels it is unlikely that she will ever meet someone.

Michael is still reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells. He teaches Geography at the same Yorkshire school as Cleo who is an old friend of Marnie’s. It is Cleo’s bright idea to bring together a small group of people in the second half of the Easter holidays to enjoy a few days walking in the glorious Cumbrian landscape.

David Nicholls is the author of several bestselling novels including One Day, Us, and Sweet Sorrow. He is also an award-winning screenwriter.

Written by David Nicholls
Abridged by Jill Waters
Read by Sally Phillips and Jim Howick
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


MON 23:00 Limelight (p09h4wps)
The System - Series 1

The System - Level 5: Kill the Past

By Ben Lewis.

A witty and propulsive six-part thriller about a group of young radicals and the hunt for their leader. Starring Siena Kelly, Jack Rowan and Iain de Caestecker.

Level 5: Kill the Past

The Past: Jake and Alex have a stand-off when Jake’s given a target dangerously close to home.
The Present: Maya’s TV habit, once described as her downfall, is about to become her greatest asset.

Cast:
Alex … Iain de Caestecker
Jerome… Don Gilét
Maya … Siena Kelly
Coyote…Divian Ladwa
Beau…Matthew Needham
DI Cohen / Jess …Chloe Pirrie
Jake …Jack Rowan

Original music and sound design by Danny Krass
Featuring tracks from Equiknoxx music collective

With thanks to Dr Joel Busher at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, University of Coventry.

A BBC Scotland Production directed by Kirsty Williams


MON 23:30 Counterfeit Characters (m001xwng)
What do Artificial Intelligence and digital technology mean for actors and their relationship with audiences?

Leading acting coach Geoffrey Colman, who has spent his working life on the sets of Hollywood movies, in theatrical rehearsal spaces, and teaching in the UK's most prestigious classrooms, wants to find out.

AI, he says, may represent the most profound change to the acting business since the move from silent films to talkies. But does it, and if so how are actors dealing with it? What does that mean for the connection between actors and audiences?

Geoffrey's concern is rooted in acting process: the idea that the construction of a complex inner thinking architecture resonates with audiences in an authentic almost magical way. But if performance capture and AI just creates the outer facial or physical expression, what happens to the inner joy or pain of a character’s thinking? The implications for the actor’s technique are profound.

To get to the bottom of these questions Geoffrey visits some of those at the cutting edge of developing this new technology. On the storied Pinewood lot he visits Imaginarium Studios, and is shown around their 'volume', where actors' every movement is captured. In East London he talks to the head of another studio about his new AI actor - made up from different actors' body parts. And at a leading acting school he speaks to students and teachers about what this new digital era means for them. He discusses concerns about ethical questions, hears from an actor fresh from the set of a major new movie, quizzes a tech expert already using AI to create avatars of herself, and speaks to Star Wars fans about how this technology has allowed beloved characters to be rejuvenated, and even resuscitated.

Producer: Giles Edwards

TUESDAY 07 MAY 2024

TUE 00:00 Midnight News (m001yyt3)
National and international news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 00:30 The Miners' Strike: Return Journey (m001vs7z)
[Repeat of broadcast at 11:45 on Monday]


TUE 00:48 Shipping Forecast (m001yyt5)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 01:00 Selection of BBC World Service Programmes (m001yyt7)
BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.


TUE 05:20 Shipping Forecast (m001yyt9)
The latest weather reports and forecasts for UK shipping


TUE 05:30 News Briefing (m001yytc)
The latest news from BBC Radio 4


TUE 05:43 Prayer for the Day (m001yytf)
Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Prof Alison Jack of the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh


TUE 05:45 Farming Today (m001yyth)
07/05/24 UK EU row over sandeels, farmers' collapse in confidence, Bordeaux wine growers in trouble

The RSPB says it is "vital" that a UK ban on fishing for sandeels in the North Sea remains in place. The ban, which stops sandeel trawlers fishing in English and Scottish sections of the North Sea, came into effect in April following a long campaign by conservationists concerned about declining seabird populations, particularly puffins and kittiwakes. Fishermen in Denmark are supporting a challenge by the European Union to the UK ban, claiming they have lost half of their fishing grounds because of the new restrictions.

Farmer confidence is at an all time low; that's according to a new survey published by the National Farmers' Union. It says the wet weather has had an impact, but farmers also point to worries about the future of their businesses. 65% of the 797 farmers surveyed at the end of last year say profits have fallen or that their businesses may not survive. 86% expect the phasing out of direct subsidy payments to have a negative impact on their farms, and 80% expect regulations and the price of inputs to hit their businesses.

We visit the heart of the global wine industry in France. While in the UK wine production has become a thriving business, in Bordeaux things aren't looking so good.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and produced by Beatrice Fenton.


TUE 06:00 Today (m001yy5r)
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.


TUE 09:00 Being Roman with Mary Beard (m001yxgt)
7. The Whistleblower

Beneath starched Shakespearean togas and the pungent fug of gladiator sweat there are real Romans waiting to be discovered. To know what it was to be Roman you need to gather the scattered clues until they form a living, breathing human, witness to the highs and horrors of Europe’s greatest empire.

Mary Beard, Britain’s best-selling historian of the ancient world, rebuilds the lives of six citizens of the Roman Empire, from a poet to a squaddie. Her investigations reveal death and deceit on the Nile and the art of running a Roman pub, but it’s the thoughts and feelings of individual Romans she’s really interested in.

It's 61CE. The rebellion of Boudicca has finally been quashed, but London and other Roman cities lie in ruins. A new finance officer for the province, Gaius Julius Classicianus arrives, to face an enormous recovery job. Standing in his way is the Governor, busy exacting terrible reprisals from the local population. Classicianus does what brave subordinates have done ever since. He whistle-blows – writing to the emperor to remove the Governor from British shores. The stage is set for an imperial face-off. For the people of Britain, the stakes could not be higher.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Expert Contributors: Matthew Nicholls, University of Oxford and Michael Marshall, Museum of London Archaeology

Cast: Tacitus played by Robert Wilfort

Translations by Mary Beard

Special thanks to the British Museum


TUE 09:30 Inside Health (m001yxgw)
What does alcohol do to the body and brain?

This week James visits a pub in Liverpool where he's joined by a trio of alcohol researchers who’ll watch carefully as he drinks two pints of lager.

They’ll give him a few tests and talk through exactly what is going on in the body and brain from the very first sip to the minutes and hours that follow.

James finds out we might be more at risk of harm than we may have thought - even if we drink below the recommended guidance of 14 units of alcohol per week.

And we’re also going to answer some more of your insomnia questions - from whether exercise can help to why chocolate before bed might be a no-no and whether falling asleep to your favourite health podcast is good for rest…

Inside Health is taking a short break for now so we'll see you in the summer. In our next series we're going to be talking about ageing and how to age well. Email your questions or thoughts to insidehealth@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Holly Squire
Production coordinator: Liz Tuohy
Studio manager: Neva Missirian


TUE 10:00 Woman's Hour (m001yy5w)
Losing your possessions, Defining honour abuse, Foster caring

What’s like to start again with nothing? On New Year's Eve of 2018, journalist Helen Chandler-Wilde lost everything she owned in a storage unit fire in Croydon, where she'd stowed all her possessions. She has written about it in the book, Lost & Found - 9 life-changing lessons about stuff from someone who lost everything. She joins Hayley Hassall to describe her experience and explain why we get so emotionally attached to our belongings.

The BBC Series I Kissed a Girl started over the weekend... it's the first UK dating show for gay women. Dannii Minogue hosts the show where ten single women are matched up with a partner to see if sparks will fly and the women will find love. In the first episode, all the women are matched with a partner and start getting to know each other. Comedian Catherine Bohart and TV critic Daisy Jones discuss.

The number of children in care is continuing to rise each year, and every year thousands of new foster carers are needed. The comedian and writer Kiri Pritchard-McLean has done just that. During lockdown, Kiri and her partner embarked on a journey to become foster carers in north Wales and she’s ‘evangelical’ about the role. It’s the subject of her new seven-month comedy tour, Peacock.

The charity Karma Nirvana has today written to the victims and safeguarding minister Laura Farris, calling for the government to introduce a statutory definition of honour abuse. The charity’s executive director Natasha Rattu explains why, alongside a woman we are calling ‘Dana’ who is a victim of this abuse, who describes her experiences and what a statutory definition would mean to her.

Presenter: Hayley Hassall
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant


TUE 11:00 Screenshot (m001yqzm)
Chinatown

In 1974, Chinatown - now widely considered to be among the greatest films ever made - was nominated for 11 Oscars. Despite the creative confidence and freedom of the era, the 1970s were a time of tolerance for the morally questionable, or even downright illegal, behaviour of some of the powerful men creating these movies.

Chinatown’s director, Roman Polanski, is the most totemic of those figures. His 1977 indictment for drugging and raping a 13 year-old led the director to flee the United States and seek legal and creative sanctuary in France, where he has remained and continued to make celebrated movies such at The Pianist, for which he won the Best Director Academy Award in 2003.

Fifty years on from Chinatown's release, Mark Kermode and Ellen E Jones ask how we can appreciate cinematic masterpieces like Chinatown which have been made by very problematic people?

Ellen gets about as close as it’s possible to get to the creators of Chinatown - Hawk Koch worked with Roman Polanski on the set of Rosemary’s Baby and, as the First Assistant Director on Chinatown, he was deeply connected with the movie and its director. In a wide ranging interview, he shares his memories from the set, discusses his friendship with Polanski and reflects on remaining in love with a movie despite its troubled past.

Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma is a highly personal account of her own relationship with the works of film-makers like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, and the questions of how knowledge of an artist’s personal life does or doesn’t change the way we feel about their art. Mark talks to Claire about the ethical and emotional issues of separating the art from the artist.

Produced by Freya Hellier.
A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 11:45 The Miners' Strike: Return Journey (m001w14f)
Nottinghamshire

Still seen as one of the most bitter and divisive industrial disputes in the UK, the year long miners' strike, beginning in March 1984, dominated the news for 12 months.

It’s been described as “a site of contested memories,” and it still evokes strong feelings in those who lived through the strike and had direct experience of it. Chris Jackson, in his very first job as a young radio reporter in South Wales, found himself covering the dispute that scarred a generation and more. Now, 40 years after the start of the strike, he’s meeting people from different sides of the difficult and controversial industrial dispute, and together they return to a place that holds some very personal memories.

In this episode, Chris meets Peter Short, who was a miner and union official at Bilsthorpe colliery in Nottinghamshire. Following a ballot in Nottinghamshire, union members there decided not to join the strike. As a result, and despite voting for strike action himself, Peter Short worked throughout the year-long dispute. Now he retraces his daily walk to the pit, talks through his decision and remembers how it felt to cross the picket line over and over again.

Producer: Jo Dwyer
Presenter: Chris Jackson
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 12:00 News Summary (m001yy60)
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.


TUE 12:04 You and Yours (m001yy64)
Call You and Yours - Financial Complaints

On today's Call You and Yours we're talking about complaining. The Financial Ombudsman Service says complaints to them were up by 20 percent in the second half of 2023 compared to the previous year. It was driven by a rise in complaints about banking with current accounts and credit cards making up over 40% of the Ombudsman’s cases within this sector. The Ombudsman also saw an increase in complaints about insurance services.

Have you had to complain to a bank, credit card or insurance company? What went wrong and how easy was it to get in touch and get your problem sorted?

When it comes to money why are we more willing to protest about poor service - do we have more to moan about today or have we turned into a nation of complainers?

Call us on 03700 100 444. Lines are open at 11 am on Tuesday February 13th.

You can also email us now at youandyours@bbc.co.uk. Don't forget to include a phone number so we can call you back.

PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON
PRODUCER: CATHERINE EARLAM


TUE 12:57 Weather (m001yy68)
The latest weather forecast


TUE 13:00 World at One (m001yy6d)
Critical moments for a Middle East ceasefire

Israel and Hamas pressure each other over a ceasefire while fighting continues in Gaza. Plus more on young people using smartphones.


TUE 13:45 Assume Nothing: The Last Request (m0019rjn)
Absolutely Terrified

BBC reporter Laura McDaid held Martin Barry's hand as he died at the Dignitas Clinic. 17 years later, she begins a search to fulfil his last request: to find his birth mother and pass on a message.

To move forward with the search, Laura first needs to explain why it's taken her 17 years to have the strength to search for Martin's mother.

She takes Kerry back to the aftermath of Martin's death, and how it was handled by the press at the time.

Will the records provide her with any further information?


TUE 14:00 The Archers (m001yy6n)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:00 on Monday]


TUE 14:15 Drama on 4 (m0015ll7)
Song of the Reed

Bittern

Conclusion of this seasonal drama following life on a wetlands nature reserve in Norfolk over one year. Starring Sophie Okonedo and Mark Rylance.

Ian (Mark Rylance) returns to Fleggwick for the first time since suffering serious injuries during the winter’s flood and finds it as beautiful and full of life as ever, but still endangered as Liv (Sophie Okonedo) struggles to find a way to keep the Reserve going.

This is the fourth and final episode of an innovative drama, with instalments recorded on location at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk every three months, documenting the extraordinary wetlands habitat as it changes through the seasons.

This episode features the Bittern as its special guest star – a characterful bird known for its booming call.

Song of the Reed, by Steve Waters, is informed by the sounds of the reserve as well as the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere.

Cast:
Liv - Sophie Okonedo
Ian - Mark Rylance
Tam - Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay - Molly Naylor
Theo - Tom Goodman-Hill
Nikki - Karen Hill
Sadegh - Zaydun Khalaf
Voice of the Reed - Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Written by Steve Waters
Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:00 Short Cuts (m001yy6r)
Earth, Water, Sky

Two men on different continents share a love of butterflies, a swimming instructor seeks solace in the water and we dive inside an inner landscape. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures that emerge from the earth, water and sky.

Psalm
Featuring Emil Blicher Bjerregaard and Mudar Salimeh
Inspired by the poem Psalm written by Wisława Szymborska
Music by Simon don Eriksen and Gregor Quendel
Mix by Lærke Soedring Nielsen
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen

My Body is of Earth
Created by Zara Zimbardo and Lily Sloane
With editorial support from Keisha "TK" Dutes and sound consultation from Adriene Lilly

Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza’s Swimming Teacher
A version of this story first aired on BBC World Service's Outlook in March 2023 ('My Life in Seven Swimming Pools') and in an updated version in April 2024 ('Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza's Swimming Teacher) presented by Jo Fidgen
Sound design by Joel Cox
Interpreter Youssef Taha
Producer Louise Morris

Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 15:30 Beyond Belief (m001yy6v)
Spiritual Seekers

Eddy Elsey, an estate agent in London, was struggling with his mental health and looking for support. Like 37% of people, according to the last census in England and Wales, traditional religion wasn’t a place he turned to. But, as he tells Giles Fraser, he did find a spiritual connection through shamanism, which has helped him.

When people say they are "spiritual but not religious", what do they mean and what do they believe?

A group of people who make use of spiritual ideologies describe their practices, from sound healing to astrology. What are oracle cards and how do you carry out a shamanic divination?

Giles meets Celestial Tree, an astrologist, Jo Moore a yoga teacher and reiki practitioner and Linda Woodhead, Professor of Moral and Social Theology at Kings College, London, who has researched the growth of spiritualities. What draws people towards them?

Producer: Rebecca Maxted
Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser
Editor: Jonathan Hallewell


TUE 16:00 True Crime 1599 (m001yy6x)
For the last decade, True Crime has become ubiquitous on television and podcasts. Yet despite its current popularity, it’s not a new phenomenon. In this programme, author Charles Nicholl take us back to a time before podcasts, TV, pulp magazines, even Penny Dreadfuls – all the way to the English stage 400 years ago when, for the first time, playhouses were putting contemporary news onstage.

Presenter: Charles Nicholl

Actors: Rhiannon Neads, John Lightbody, Michael Bertenshaw, Josh Bryant-Jones, Ian Dunnett Junior
Sound design: Peter Ringrose
Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko


TUE 16:30 When It Hits the Fan (m001yy6z)
Co-op Live, political spin and inside the Trumpian bubble

David Yelland and Simon Lewis discuss Manchester’s Co-op Live arena opening delays – will these prove to cause long-term reputational damage to the great north-western institution, or will they be a blip that's soon forgotten?

Also, why did so-called "well-placed sources" in Westminster seek to spin the London Mayoral Election result after the polls had closed? Was it good PR?

And how’s it going for Donald Trump trying to spin from inside his Manhattan court room? David and Simon peak inside the Trumpian bubble and look at how PR advisors sometimes protect the rich and powerful from bad news.

Producer: Eve Streeter
Editor: Sarah Teasdale
Executive Producer: William Miller
Music by Eclectic Sounds
A Raconteur production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 17:00 PM (m001yy71)
Labour's Rachel Reeves discusses the party's plan for the economy

Rachel Reeves discusses her vision for the economy under a Labour government. Elsewhere, we hear from people who are fleeing Rafah.


TUE 18:00 Six O'Clock News (m001yy73)
Stormy Daniels described an alleged sexual encounter which Mr Trump denies


TUE 18:30 Thanks a Lot, Milton Jones! (m001yy75)
Series 6

4. Ceilidh Minogue

As Star of Mock The Week, Milton Jones heads north everything goes south and he finds himself involved in a deadly game of battle hips

Complete with his unmissable jokes and a fully-working cast.

“The best one-line merchant in British comedy...” - Chortle

"King of the surreal one-liners" - The Times

“Milton Jones is one of Britain’s best gagsmiths with a flair for creating daft yet perfect one-liners” – The Guardian

Written by Milton Jones, James Cary and Dan Evans with additional material by Adrian Gray

Starring Milton Jones, Tom Goodman-Hill, Josie Lawrence & Dan Tetsell

With music by Guy Jackson

Produced and directed by David Tyler

A Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 19:00 The Archers (m001yxg6)
Brian, Adam and Kate are at the police station – they want to get Alice through this with the least possible trauma. She was arrested as soon as the doctor said she was well enough. Brian is kicking himself about his harsh words to Alice. But Kate thinks people have every right to be furious with her. For now Alice is free to go, while her blood alcohol is being tested.

During the drive home she wants to go to the hospital to find out how the others are. Kate is derisive – if the shoe were on the other foot, they wouldn’t want ‘the offender’ visiting. Alice struggles to remember what happened – she recalls George but little else. When they get home Alice tells Brian it’s not the first time she has parked up and got drunk but she’s never driven drunk before. After putting her to bed, Brian tells Kate and Adam they have to do something – he doesn’t know how Alice will get out of this mess.

Fallon is impatient to leave the hospital with Harrison. Mick arrives, unscathed apart from a sprained wrist although Joy has a broken collar bone. They’ve all had a lucky escape - they all agree George is one brave kid. The doctor arrives and gives Fallon the all clear to leave, but first wants a word with Fallon and Harrison in private. He tells them one of the hospital’s routine tests has come back positive – Fallon is pregnant. She’s shocked - she has a coil and they’ve been careful. She must return for an ultrasound tomorrow.


TUE 19:15 Front Row (m001yy77)
Party Games play, 200 years of Beethoven’s 9th, literary editing

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, music critic Norman Lebrecht and conductor JoAnn Falletta discuss what makes it revolutionary and why it's so challenging to perform.

Michael McManus spent most of his career as a political advisor but has subsequently become a playwright. His new play Party Games is a political comedy that questions the power of AI and the influence of unelected advisors.

A new exhibition at the Bodleian Library in Oxford - Write, Cut, Rewrite - looks at the drafts, additions and omissions behind key artistic decisions from great writers. Writer Lawrence Norfolk and poet Alice Oswald talk about the importance of rewriting and editing.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Torquil MacLeod


TUE 20:00 Boys (m001yqr8)
The Boys Are Not Alright

When radio producer Jo Meek realised Daniel Harris - the teenager found guilty of encouraging terrorism - lived in her county, the story hit home.

In The Boys Are Not Alright, she investigates the frightening rise of boys being radicalised online, and looks for the solutions to stop her own young sons spiralling. 

She uncovers evidence of how Harris, who spent to 14 hours a day online, quickly became radicalised. Daniel is not alone - over 2,600 children aged between 11 to 15 were referred to Prevent last year, with the vast majority boys.

Experts describe a constantly evolving online gaming landscape that mimics a playground, but without any meaningful protections. And as Jo struggles to contain her son’s exposure to extremist ideas in the gaming world, she hears how hateful social media content is also proliferating fast, with a 12-fold increase since October 2023 that is specifically affecting young people.

Daniel Harris was radicalised, despite the best efforts of many in the community around him. Jo investigates what is being done by police and mental health services to ensure that young, vulnerable men - some of whom struggle to form real life relationships - are being protected and diverted from toxic online relationships.  And as the nature of extremism shifts, with new ideologies emerging and more terrorists acting alone, Jo asks if the real threat is posed by an internet that offers ever more compelling opportunities to radicalise.

An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 20:40 In Touch (m001yy79)
Sleep

What is non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder? It is a condition that impacts the natural body clock, thus affecting sleep, and can be triggered by a lack of or no light perception. Tina Snow got in touch after having suffered with this condition for most of her life and she struggled to get the treatment she needed. We have brought Tina together with a world expert in this condition to give information on how the condition works and how it can be treated effectively. We also hear from Tina's GP, who recently sought a individual prescription for melatonin (a natural hormone that regulates sleep) and we hear Kaukub Asia's experience, who also has issues with her circadian rhythm due to her visual impairment.

Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Liz Poole
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.


TUE 21:00 Crossing Continents (m001yy7c)
Italy’s Mafia Whistleblower

Last year in Italy the biggest anti-mafia trial in 30 years reached a climax. On the stand were the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta: they are estimated to run 80 percent of Europe’s cocaine and to make more money in a year than McDonalds and Deutsche Bank put together.

With access to mafioso-turned-collaborator Emanuele Mancuso, journalist Francisco Garcia looks at why Emanuele went against his powerful family. What has this trial meant for the 'Ndrangheta? And has it changed life for Calabrians today?

Producer: Ant Adeane
Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Studio Manager: Neil Churchill
Editor: Penny Murphy


TUE 21:30 The Bottom Line (m001yy7f)
The Decisions That Made Me a Leader

1: How to Retire Before 30

Evan Davis sits down with Timo Armoo, the founder of social media advertising business Fanbytes, which he set up when he was 21 with two friends.

Aged 27 he sold the company, which connects social media influencers with brands, for an eight-figure sum, saying he can now retire a multi-millionaire.

Timo was born in Hackney in London but moved to Ghana to live with his grandmother when he was 3 months old. He returned to the UK and grew up on a council estate in south London and says he always had this burning feeling that he was destined for more.

Evan asks about the key personal and business-related decisions that got him to where he is today.

A Long Form Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.


TUE 22:00 The World Tonight (m001yy7h)
'Technical issue' at passport e-gates causes backlogs at airports

Airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester were all hit by a "technical issue" affecting passport control e-gates, causing long queues.

The Home Office, which oversees Border Force, said it was working with the agency and affected airports to "resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused."

In Rafah, Israel's military operations continue, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sends a delegation of negotiators to Cairo for a potential ceasefire deal.

And to mark the 200th anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, we spoke to BBC Symphony Orchestra composer Sakari Oramo about the thrills and challenges of the piece.


TUE 22:45 You Are Here by David Nicholls (m001yy7k)
Episode 7

David Nicholls’ new novel, You Are Here, follows two isolated and lonely people who are thrown together by the endeavours of a mutual friend who believes they both need to ‘get out more'. A long weekend walking in the Lake District turns into a rain-lashed and wuthering journey across the valleys and moorlands of some England’s most spectacular countryside.

Marnie is a freelance copy editor, spending most of her days alone in her south London flat. After a disastrous marriage in her early 20s, romance and companionship seem to have passed her by. Now, in her late 30s, she feels it is unlikely that she will ever meet someone.

Michael is still reeling from his wife's departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells. He teaches Geography at the same Yorkshire school as Cleo who is an old friend of Marnie’s. It is Cleo’s bright idea to bring together a small group of people in the second half of the Easter holidays to enjoy a few days walking in the glorious Cumbrian landscape.

David Nicholls is the author of several bestselling novels including One Day, Us, and Sweet Sorrow. He is also an award-winning screenwriter.

Written by David Nicholls
Abridged by Jill Waters
Read by Sally Phillips and Jim Howick
Produced by Jill Waters
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:00 Uncanny (m001yy7m)
Series 4

S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

Wendy’s father Harry was a British Spitfire pilot during World War II who moved to Texas to work in espionage. When he becomes ill with cancer, he promises Wendy that if there is life after death, he will reach out to her. This isn’t that comforting, their relationship has always been difficult - Harry used many of the espionage techniques he was schooled in to control and monitor Wendy, like a real-life version of Robert De Niro’s character in Meet the Parents.

When Harry dies, Wendy moves into his house in Austin and then… her Dad’s phone begins to ring by itself. It's disconnected, what's happening is impossible, so is this Harry reaching out? And what will it take to make him let go?

Written and presented by Danny Robins
Experts: Cal Cooper and Jeff Belanger
Editing and sound design: Charlie Brandon-King
Music: Evelyn Sykes
Theme music by Lanterns on the Lake
Script editor: Dale Shaw
Development producer: Sarah Patten
Production manager: Tam Reynolds
Commissioning executive: Paula McDonnell
Commissioning editor: Rhian Roberts
Produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard

A Bafflegab and Uncanny Media production for BBC Radio 4


TUE 23:30 Today in Parliament (m001yy7q)
Susan Hulme reports as the defence secretary answers MPs' questions about the hacking of an armed forces payroll system.